


All He Ever Wanted

by ellievate



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Attempting To Be a Good Dad TM, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tim, Insecurity, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 22:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17650814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellievate/pseuds/ellievate
Summary: When Bruce finally settles in after coming back from the dead, Tim is still struggling with having the title of Robin taken away from him. Bruce decides its time to start repairing the damage done in his absence, and the relationship with his son.





	All He Ever Wanted

Bruce was well aware he wasn’t always, ok scratch that, usually wasn’t the best at taking care of his children. At least on an emotional scale. But even he could see that something was upsetting Tim. Said the third son sat at the kitchen island, the coffee cup in front of him as empty as the look on his face.

Bruce frowned. He knew he had to rectify whatever Tim was going through before it got worse. He paused, looking at Tim’s dark circles and paler than normal visage. “Alright,” he thought, “Worse than it already is.”

Bruce intentionally let his shoes click on the wooden kitchen floor, making sure to let Tim know he was there without actually saying anything.

“Tim,” Bruce began, though he still wasn’t quite sure what to say as he approached the boy, “Are you doing ok?”

His brow furrowed with quiet concern.

Tim, who had seemingly been lost in thought snapped his head up, eyes wide and more alert than they had been seconds ago. “O-oh yeah definitely.” He smiled but Bruce cringed internally at the obviously fake smile. Painfully fake. Tim’s smile cracked as he started to fidget in his chair.

“Alright, maybe not as internal as I’d intended.” Tim suddenly stood up and went to leave when Bruce gently caught him by the arm. A Bruce from just a few years prior wouldn’t have been so gentle with the boy but, things were different now. He was different now. So was Tim.

As he tugged the boy back towards him and into his chair he couldn’t help but think about how much Tim had changed, especially recently. While Tim had always been the most likely of his children to push themselves on a case Tim had been bleeding himself dry on their most recent one. “Well, his most recent one.” Bruce frowned at the thought.

Even though it had been months Bruce still had trouble adjusting to Tim no longer being his Robin. It seemed like he’d only just gotten used to him, settled in and become less an unwilling mentor but a partner when he’d come back to Damian holding the title of Robin. And for all his inability to sense what others were feeling it was obvious to even him that Tim wasn’t handling it well.

He looked to the boy sitting next to him, head ducked down and arms crossed across his chest in a self-protective stance. The fact that he felt the need to protect himself at all, within his home sitting next to his father, caused an ache in Bruce’s chest. He swallowed and turned to face Tim fully, giving him his full attention.

“Tim,..” he trailed off, thinking of how best to approach it.

“You know you’re still welcome here right? With us? I know that what happened while I was gone wasn’t fair to you and that Damian especially hasn’t been treating you right.” He took a breath and looked away, pushing past his pride for Tim’s sake. He was his son after all.

“I’m sorry, and I do love you. Very much in fact.” He paused when he heard Tim suck in a sharp breath and he turned back to see wide blue eyes staring back at him in what appeared to be disbelief. It hurt to think about why that emotion seemed so at home in his eyes.

“What are you sorry for? You weren’t here how could it be your fault, you didn’t choose to make Damian Robin that was Dick-” He shut his mouth as if afraid he’d say something he’d regret if he continued.

“Dick is the oldest that’s true and I’m grateful he took over in my absence. But that doesn’t mean he gets the right to make decisions like that without considering all the variables, without considering everyone involved.” The words “without considering what it’d do to them” went unsaid.

Tim remained silent, fingers twisting in his lap. He looked up suddenly, staring Bruce in the eye with a fierce blue gaze.

“Would you have replaced me so quickly?”

“Tim you can’t-” Bruce was quickly cut off as Tim continued.

“Would you have been so ready to replace me? To replace me with someone better, with the blood son?” His tone was full of desperation and his gaze was unflinching. Bruce found it near impossible to keep looking him in the eyes.

Bruce closed his eyes, wishing desperately that things had gone down differently. That, someone, didn’t always end up getting hurt. That his family the people that he loved more than anyone else was happy and happy with each other.

Tim echoed his previous words, soft voice catching in his throat. “Would you have replaced me. Because I can’t blame you if you would’ve. It is obvious why Dick did it now.” Bruce’s level of anxiety over Tim’s condition and his mental state instantly increased tenfold.

“Since when does Tim think of himself like that?”

He searched his mind desperately for some hint but came up empty.

Meanwhile, Tim continued on despite Bruce’s internal crisis. “..And it makes sense right?” He choked on a half-hysterical laugh.

“It makes sense to get rid of the extra, to get rid of the replacement.” The words ground in his throat, an echo of Jason’s past insults. Despite him being on increasingly better terms with the second Robin, his words still lingered in the back of his mind on occasion. And increasingly so as of late.

Bruce was stunned. He had always thought of Tim to be the safe one. The stable one. The one who picked others up when they were down, not the other way around. He’d been foolish. He’d been foolish enough to let his son’s problems go unnoticed and foolish enough to let him think he was unwanted.

He couldn’t let this continue.

“You mean so much to me Tim. I’m..well aware I’m the worst at showing it and expressing my feelings in general but I am so proud of you Son.”

He smiled softly as Tim’s own lips curled at the corners at the use of an old and rarely used nickname. Though not a nickname. A reminder of what Tim was. His son. His third son who’d come to him when he had thought things would never get better. His baby who’d been so small, so delicate when he first saw him, so pale and fragile looking when he’d fall asleep after patrols and he’d look at him and think that Yes, this is someone worth fighting for.

Someone worth loving.

“Since the moment we started working together I was surprised by you. Impressed by you. So very very proud of you. I know that I haven’t been fair to you. That Dick hasn’t been either. Hell,” he breathed, “Most of this family hasn’t even been slightly fair to you. But I can promise you that I wouldn’t have replaced you.”

He placed his hands on Tim’s shoulders and made sure he had Tim’s full attention though it was unlikely it’d be elsewhere, the boy so stunned at the multitude of compliments and confessions.

“The only reason that I’d have taken Robin away from you, was either that you’d broken the Cardinal rule, which I know you’d never do, or if you’d wanted to quit. If you’d wanted to leave Robin and this life behind. I wouldn’t stop you. I wouldn’t stop you now.”

He took a deep breath, his mind screaming against his next few words.

“In fact, if you were to say you want to leave this very minute. I wouldn’t stop you. God I’d hate it, I’d hate every second of it and I’d miss you every minute you were gone but I wouldn’t stop you.” He smiled ruefully. “God knows I wouldn’t be able to stop you anyway.”

Tim merely stared at him in what appeared to be awe. “It couldn’t be right,” he thought.

There was no way that Bruce was saying all these things to him. Things he’d been yearning to hear his entire time with Bruce. Unable to fully process the information he’d just received Tim leaned forward, laying his head upon Bruce’s broad chest. He’d only done it once before in memory but it remained the same. Warm and solid, smelling distinctly like a man, and a little bit like the cave. He felt like home.

“Thank you.” He whispered so softly if Bruce hadn’t been inches away he wouldn’t have heard him.

It was all he’d ever wanted to hear from his father.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr @ellievate


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